Liberia: Create Commercially Viable Radio Stations Using New Marketing Strategies

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Radio is the most popular source of news in post-conflict Liberia, but stations are struggling. Knight Fellow Luisa Handem Piette is developing business models that will lead to profitability.

Luisa Handem Piette is a Knight International Journalism Fellow who coached management at four independent newspapers and three radio stations in Liberia to become profitable. She started the Media and Business Sustainability Exchange (MBS), a monthly meeting that brings together Liberian media managers and other members of the business community, including the Liberia Chamber of Commerce. The goal: to help the news media attract clients and educate businesses on the value of buying ads in a country where most advertising still comes from the government and NGOs.

For World Press Freedom Day (May 3, 2012), Piette was the chief organizer of a four-day program in Monrovia that brought journalists and officials together from Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone to discuss the state of media freedom in the region. A main theme was journalism’s role in strengthening democracy through accountability.

In the early months of her fellowship, Piette prepared journalists to cover the October 2011 presidential elections. She focused on ethics and balance in the run up to the vote, won by incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. Piette also produced a video that highlights her work with journalists during the elections and her efforts to build independent media – especially media by and for women.

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Since embarking a year ago on a media-sustainability project as a Knight International Journalism Fellow in Liberia, I have worked with managers at three newspapers and three radio stations to help them succeed not only as news organizations but also as businesses.

The Liberia media industry is extremely volatile, with radio stations, in particular, shutting down from time to time for lack of income.

My arrival in Monrovia came in August, barely a month-and-a-half before Liberians would go to the polls to vote on a president and legislators. The election, the second in six years of reconciliation efforts, is considered critical in helping to consolidate a fragile peace and democracy. And there is no doubt that reporters have an important role to play in this process.

Knight International Journalism Fellow Luisa Handem Piette is working in Liberia to help media organizations develop sustainable business plans. She's also worked to highlight the work of journalists across the country.

For World Press Freedom Day, Handem led the planning for a three-day conference that included a march with hundreds of journalists and others, as well as a public debate.

In addition to her work making media companies in Liberia more commercially sustainable and vibrant, Knight International Journalism Fellow Luisa Handem Piette has taken a lead in organizing the country's World Press Freedom Day events, including a three-nation conference, a march in the streets of Monrovia and an award ceremony for top journalists.

Knight International Journalism Fellow Luisa Handem Piette, working with UNESCO, her partner in Liberia, held a workshop to help media managers turn their news organizations into thriving, sustainable businesses.